Idolatry: A Right View of God's Love

Dave Jenkins

In Exodus 3:14, God says, “I am who I am.” Such a declaration is powerful because the Lord God was declaring not only who He is at His absolute essence, but also declaring to the world, “I am the only God!” As we fast forward to the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ declares seven times, “I Am!” in the Gospel of John. In Leviticus 11:44-46, we are taught that God is holy, meaning He is set apart. In 1st Peter 1:13-15, we are taught that as a result of God’s holiness, He requires Christians to live holy lives. Gaining a right understanding of the love of God requires a biblical understanding of His holiness. The matter of understanding the holiness and love of God is so serious because, if we get His holiness wrong, we diminish and undermine His character. If we get the love of God wrong, then we have a God who will crush humanity in judgment, not love us through Christ alone.

The Love of God and the Christian Faith

In the book of 1st John, the Apostle John roots the assurance of the Christian using the interplay between external evidence and the internal testimony of grace. To abide in Christ is the result of the work of the Holy Spirit at work in the Christian. The Holy Spirit provides assurance that the people of God belong to Jesus, but never operates apart from outward evidence of faith. The presence of the Holy Spirit is discerned both by His internal testimony and by obedience to the commands of Jesus given through His apostles (1st John 4:6).

Some of the other commands of John include belief in the Son Jesus (1st John 3:23; 4:1-5) and love for one another as Christians (1st John 3:23). Love, to John, is a critical mark of the Christian who has genuine faith. Those who have not been born of God do not know God, nor can they know that “God is love” (1st John 4:8). Love is essential to the nature of God. Those who have become partakers of the new nature (2nd Peter 1:4) are the people of God. They alone increasingly reflect the holy and loving character of God and love others. The transformed hearts of Christians respond to the call of God to love one another.

John is addressing those in 1st John who thought love made God too personal. Many today follow along with John’s original audience believing “God is love”, but do not believe what the Bible teaches about the rest of God’s character. Such people often recoil at the idea that the way to heaven is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14) and restricted by Christ only through Him (John 14:6; Acts 4:14).

When Christians speak of the love of God, we are not minimizing the other characteristics of God. For example, the simplicity of God tells us the love of God never operates apart from the holiness, mercy, omnipotence, justice, or other divine attributes. It is loving, therefore, to seek justice and demand holiness, but never to do so at the expense of mercy. Christians need the help of God and the wisdom He provides to apply His love into every phase of our lives.

THE LOVE OF GOD AND HIS DISCIPLINE

Within God’s perfect love is the reality that God chastens those whom He loves. Hebrews 12:5-7 reminds us, “You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?”

Christians should both expect and embrace the discipline God gives them. The divine discipline of God is intended to help the people of God grow in a relationship with our heavenly Father. Revelation 3:19 states, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”

Throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon speaks about a father disciplining and correcting their children out of love. To the biblical writers, rejecting correction from the Lord God is to walk in the way of foolishness and wickedness. To walk in the light according to the biblical writers, is to accept correction, repent, and become wise. Such Christians understand that the loving embrace of God involves the guiding rod and staff wielded by the Chief Shepherd, Jesus.

THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE JEALOUS GOD

In Exodus 34:14, we find the command, “Worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” John Frame in Systematic Theology explains, “God’s jealousy is not inconsistent with his love or goodness. On the contrary, his jealousy is part of his love.”

THE LOVE OF GOD AND THE CHRISTIAN’S SECURITY

In Romans 8:31-39, Paul writes about the love of God and how down to the nanosecond the Christian is held secure in His sovereign hands. Only those who are truly Christ’s will be held until the end, for they have true faith in Him. Times of doubt may come, and the storms of life may assail them, but if we belong to Christ, we are held by Him and will belong to Him always. Such biblical truth should cause Christians to draw near humbly to the throne of God to know and grow in the love of God.

Posted at: https://servantsofgrace.org/idolatry-and-getting-a-right-understanding-of-gods-love/

Nine Steps to Absolute Sovereignty

John Piper

(John Piper was asked ‘Can Jesus calm any storm just because He calmed a storm while He was here on earth?” Here is PIper’s response.)

I have at least nine premises to get to the conclusion that Jesus today rules over all storms, everywhere, at all time. Yes, I do believe that. I believe the Bible teaches that. Let me give you my nine premises.

1. Jesus is the Son of God.

When the disciples saw Jesus still the storm, the conclusion they drew was not simply that this particular miracle was an isolated event from a random Jewish teacher. They drew the conclusion that this was a particular kind of person. They saw his power as general, not specific. They said, “What sort of man is this, that even winds [not wind, but winds] and sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27). The answer in Matthew’s context, the answer to their question that Matthew wants us to draw — so, this is a teaching of the Bible — is this: he’s the Son of God. That’s who he is. That is the sort of man he is.

So, rightly understood, the stilling of the storm is a revelation of who he is, and therefore it’s general. That sort of man doesn’t just luck out in this scenario, like, “Whoa, look at that. It actually works.” He doesn’t just luck out sometimes in his ability to see and still storms. It’s a general statement: the winds and the sea, in general — that’s the kind of man he is — obey him. That’s my first premise: the Son of God is the sort of person who can do this.

2. Jesus is unchanging.

Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He has the same power in 2020 that he had in the first century. He is still that sort of person.

3. God oversees even what seems insignificant.

This same Jesus said to his disciples, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29). I’m assuming that Jesus acts in concert with his Father here. They’re not at odds with each other, like “Oh, the Father can govern the fall of sparrows, but Jesus, he can’t. He’s out of step with that; he can’t do that. Only the Father can do that.”

“What happens ‘in the seas and all deeps’ is owing to ‘whatever the Lord pleases.’”TweetShare on Facebook

What the Father does, the Son does, Jesus says (John 5:19). And he says that the Father oversees, governs, the fall of every sparrow — which is an illustration of the most insignificant event Jesus could come up with at the time, I think. Like ripples on the sea. Jesus could’ve said, “Not one ripple happens in the sea apart from your Father,” instead of “Not one sparrow falls to the ground.”

If someone says, “This only means God watches the sparrows fall, but doesn’t govern it,” I would say that in the context of comforting the disciples as they are being killed — that’s the context: “They’re going to kill your body; don’t worry; I’ve got you” (Matthew 10:16–28) — in the context of being killed, that is zero comfort. “Oh, my God watches, but he can’t do anything. My God is inactive. He’s powerless.” I don’t think so. That’s not what’s going on here. This is not just saying, “Hey, God watches while you get killed. He can’t do anything, but he just watches. Take heart.” I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant at all in the context of Matthew 10.

4. Jesus Christ upholds everything.

Paul says that the reigning Jesus, who is the same forever and ever, holds everything together (Colossians 1:17). Hebrews 1:3 says, “He upholds the universe by the word of his power.” The world is not like a clock that Jesus wound up, set to running, and then watches from a distance, and has no involvement in it. Psalm 147:8 says, “He prepares rain for the earth; he makes grass grow on the hills.”

Jesus is holding every wave and all the wind in being. He’s holding it in being. He’s got the whole world in his hands. It seems highly unlikely to me that he would be holding a tsunami in being as it rolls over a village, but that he has no plan for it as it rolls over the village. He’s got it totally in his hand, holding it in being. He could flatten the tsunami at any moment because he holds it in being. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” There’s no way. That is not the way God thinks.

5. God’s will always comes to pass.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:11 that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Not some things — all things. His will — not our will.

6. God does what he pleases everywhere.

Psalm 135:6 says, “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps” — which is where earthquakes happen that cause tsunamis. When it says “in the seas and all deeps,” this is not a limited statement. It says that what happens “in the seas and all deeps” is owing to “whatever the Lord pleases.”

7. God gives and takes.

When anyone dies in a tornado or hurricane or tsunami, this is not an exception to the reality described by the writer of Job and James when they said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away” (Job 1:21), and “You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4:15). We will survive this tsunami or we won’t. We will live and do this or that — if the Lord wills. Life and death are, finally, in the hand of the Lord. The natural causes of death are in the hand of the Lord, like wind and waves.

8. God is never capricious.

If we believe the Bible, and if we believe the Bible teaches the foreknowledge of God (which I do), then when he foresees a tsunami heading for a village or a virus heading for a pandemic, and he permits all that he sees, then this permitted act is part of his plan, since he could have stopped it. He doesn’t make such choices to permit or to stop whimsically or aimlessly. He is infinitely wise. He makes such choices to permit or not to permit wisely — that is, according to the counsel of his will.

9. The Bible plainly and pervasively teaches God’s absolute sovereignty.

I have texts for all these, but I won’t read them. The sovereignty of God in the Bible over all things is pervasive and all-encompassing. You don’t have to logically infer it; it’s just everywhere. It says he governs

• the wind,

• lightning,

• snow,

• frogs,

• gnats,

• flies,

• locusts,

• quail,

• worms,

• fish,

• sparrows,

• grass,

• plants,

• famine,

• the sun,

• prison doors,

• blindness,

• deafness,

• paralysis,

• fever,

• every disease,

• travel plans,

• the hearts of kings,

• nations,

• murderers,

• spiritual deadness,

• and on and on.

And they all obey his sovereign will. My confidence that Jesus rules all waves and all seas is not based on his stilling one storm, but on his being the Son of God, who is God, and who Scripture teaches works all things according to the counsel of his will.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-christ-govern-every-storm?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=18d667e1-6bec-4408-94bf-14999d2ecacb&utm_content=apj&utm_campaign=new+teaching&fbclid=IwAR0XYQRL0eC_DDsqw2TuSV0UFqUKY0DV8K1r-kEss39ahQ7G6kjG2uJrr3U

In Your Suffering, How Do You View God?

Bob Kellemen

A Crystal Clear Image of God 

Paul uses the Greek word for “comfort” ten times in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7—do you think this may be the theme of these verses?

He begins developing his theme by presenting a crystal clear image of God.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles” (1:3-4a).

All comfort is ultimately sourced in God. The flip side of that is to say that worldly comfort—comfort not sourced in God—is ultimately empty, vain, hollow comfort.

Seeing God as Your Compassionate Father 

The Greek word for “compassion” means to feel another person’s agony. People in Paul’s day used the word to signify sympathetic lament.

God laments our pain; God aches when we ache; He weeps when we weep. He is the Father of compassion.

Is this our image of God when life is bad?

In your suffering, do you see God as your Father who sympathetically laments with you?

Seeing God as Your Comforting Father 

The word for “comfort” pictures God fortifying us—he gives us his strength to endure.

Paul and others used the word “comfort” to picture:

• A lawyer advocating for a client

• A mother wrapping her arms of protection around her child

• A solider standing back to back with a comrade in danger

God is the God of all comfort.

In the midst of our suffering, is that our image of God? 

In your suffering, do you see God as your Advocate, as your Protector, as your Ally?

Join the Conversation 

What is your image of God in your suffering?

During times of suffering, how could you find sustaining strength by seeing God as your compassionate and comforting Father?

Posted at: https://rpmministries.org/2019/11/in-your-suffering-how-do-you-view-god/

He Loved You Before There Was a You

by Jared C. Wilson 

God's love for his children is grounded in the eternal reality of his very self. It is predicated on nothing but the purity of his very nature, the endless-both-ways love he both has and is. 

Paul helps us ponder it this way:

"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." - Romans 8:29

I note that Paul does not say "for what he foreknew." In other words, it is not as if God looked through time, saw you would be an asset to the organization and so chose you. He was not scouring the future for good apples for his prospective bushel.

Christians, God did not choose you based on what he foreknew you would do or be. He did not survey your good works and clear you for incorporation into the body of his son. No, none of us would qualify that way. We cannot be good enough, smart enough, or doggone it, likeable enough to earn credit with the three-times-holy God.

Paul says "for those he foreknew." For whom he foreknew.

Certainly God has a prescient foreknowledge. He is perfectly omniscient; thus, he knows all things, including things that, from our vantage point, are yet to be. But the foreknowledge spoken of in Romans 8:29 is a relational foreknowledge. He knew you before there was a you. And he predestined you to be conformed to the image of his Son.

Apart from your works, despite your sin. He saw it all. And he wanted you. He chose you.

This means that God's loving intentions for you began before the foundation of the world. From eternity past, he has loved you. Which means he will not stop. For eternity future, his love is yours, never to wane, never to be revoked.

It is not what you can do for him that he wants. He needs nothing. It is you yourself that he wants. You the unlovable. You the weak lover of him. He loves you with a boundless, free, and gracious love. He always has.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

Posted at: https://ftc.co/resource-library/blog-entries/he-loved-you-before-there-was-a-you

Ten Truths About God’s Absolute Being

John Piper

1. God had no beginning.

God is who he is means he never had a beginning. And that just staggers the mind. Every child asks his parents, “Where did God come from? Who made God?” And every wise parent says, “Nobody made God. He just was always there. Always. No beginning.”

2. God is without end.

God is who he is means God will never end. If he didn’t come into being, he can’t go out of being, because he is being — absolute being. There’s no place to go outside being. There’s only he. Before he creates, he’s all there is. Absolutely.

3. God is absolute reality.

God is who he is means God is absolute reality. There’s no reality before him. There’s no reality outside of him unless he wills it and creates it. He’s not one of many realities before he creates. He is simply absolute reality. He’s all that was — eternally. No space. Space didn’t exist. The universe didn’t exist. Emptiness did not exist. Only God existed forever, absolutely and absolutely all.

4. God is utterly independent.

God is who he is means that God is utterly independent. He depends on nothing to bring him into being. He depends on nothing to support him. He depends on nothing to counsel him. He depends on nothing to make him what he is. He is absolutely independent.

5. Everything depends on him.

God is who he is means everything that is not God depends totally on God. All that is not God is secondary, dependent. The entire universe is secondary reality. Let that sink in, because nobody in this city believes that. And if the church doesn’t, you’re just like them. All the universe is secondary. Humanity is secondary. God is primary, absolute first, last, glorious. Everything else is secondary.

6. Nothing compares to God.

God is who he is means all the universe is, by comparison to God, as nothing. Galaxies compared to God are nothing. All the universe by comparison to God is as nothing. Contingent, dependent reality is to absolute, independent reality as a shadow to substance, as echo to thunderclap, as bubble to ocean. All that we see, all that you are amazed by in your land or around the world — all the world, all the galaxies — compared to God, is as nothing. If you put God on one side of the scales and the universe on the other side of the scales, the universe goes up like air or dust on the scale. Isaiah 40:17: “All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.”

7. God cannot be improved.

God is who he is means God is constant. He’s the same yesterday, today, and forever. He cannot be improved. He cannot be diminished. He’s not becoming anything. He is who he is. There’s no development in God. There’s no progress in God. Absolute perfection cannot be improved.

8. God sets the ultimate standard.

God is who he is means he is the absolute standard of truth and goodness and beauty. There’s no law book that he consults in deciding what is right. There’s no almanac to establish facts for God. There’s no guild, no musical guild, for example, to determine what is excellent and beautiful. He’s the standard. He himself is the standard of the right, the true, the beautiful.

9. God always does right.

God is who he is means God does whatever he pleases, and it is always right, always beautiful, always in accord with truth. There are no constraints on God from outside that he doesn’t will to exist, and thus govern. All reality that is outside of him is subordinate to him. So, he’s utterly free. He’s the only free being in the universe, in fact. He is utterly free from any constraints that don’t originate from his own will.

10. Nothing is worth more.

God is who he is means he’s the greatest, the most beautiful, the most valuable, and the most important person in existence. He’s more worthy of interest and attention and admiration and enjoyment than all persons and all realities put together, including the entire universe.

The Bible reveals and assumes that God everywhere.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/who-is-yahweh?fbclid=IwAR0aU5FB4q06C9y3j8Rzd98gaMpPjPk61mbw99nnPj78D7U2f1ijCxxfFOE

God is Always Doing 10,000 Things in Your Life

John Piper

“God is always doing 10,000 things in your life, and you may be aware of three of them.” That was one of our most widely spread tweets in 2012. So we want to say it again for 2013 and make this promise even more solid.

Not only may you see a tiny fraction of what God is doing in your life; the part you do see may make no sense to you.

• You may find yourself in prison, and God may be advancing the gospel among the guards, and making the free brothers bold. (Philippians 1:12–14)

• You may find yourself with a painful thorn, and God may be making the power of Christ more beautiful in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:7–9)

• You may find yourself with a dead brother that Jesus could have healed, and God may be preparing to show his glory. (John 11:1–44)

• You may find yourself sold into slavery, accused falsely of sexual abuse, and forgotten in a prison cell, and God may be preparing you to rule a nation. (Genesis 37–50)

• You may wonder why a loved one is left in unbelief so long, and find that God is preparing a picture of his patience and a powerful missionary. (Galatians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:12–16)

• You may live in all purity and humility and truth only to end rejected and killed, and God may be making a parable of his Son and an extension of his merciful sufferings in yours. (Isaiah 53:3; Mark 8:31; Colossians 1:24)

• You may walk through famine, be driven from your homeland, lose husband and sons, and be left desolate with one foreign daughter-in-law, and God may be making you an ancestor of a King. (Ruth 1–4)

• You may find the best counselor you’ve ever known giving foolish advice, and God may be preparing the destruction of your enemy. (2 Samuel 17:14)

• You may be a sexually pure single person and yet accused of immorality, and God may be preparing you as a virgin blessing in ways no one can dream. (Luke 1:35)

• You may not be able to sleep and look in a random book, and God may be preparing to shame your arrogant enemy and rescue a condemned people. (Esther 6:1–13)

• You may be shamed and hurt, and God may be confirming your standing as his child and purifying you for the highest inheritance. (Hebrews 12:5–11)

There are three granite foundation stones under this confidence for 2013: God’s love. God’s sovereignty. God’s wisdom.

“There is no power in the universe that can stop God from fulfilling his totally good plans for you.”TweetShare on Facebook

Love: In the death of Christ on our behalf, God has totally removed his wrath from us (Romans 8:3; Galatians 3:13). Now there is not only no condemnation (Romans 8:1), but now God is only merciful (Romans 8:32). Even his discipline is all mercy.

Sovereignty: There is no power in the universe that can stop him from fulfilling his totally good plans for you. “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).

Wisdom: God’s infinite wisdom always sees a way to bring the greatest good out of the most painful and complex situations. “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).

Therefore, no matter what you face this year, God will be doing 10,000 things in your life that you cannot see. Trust him. Love him. And they will all be good for you.

John Piper (@JohnPiper) is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and most recently Why I Love the Apostle Paul: 30 Reasons.

Five Attributes of God’s Holiness

David Tank

The holiness of God distinguishes God as God, and reveals how we are not. It communicates His transcendent sovereignty and flawless purity, His overwhelming right to rule, and His stainless character.

Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. (Psalm 145:3)

Human beings cannot begin to measure God’s holiness, and yet, God has revealed His glory and holiness to us in His Word (John 1:14; Hebrews 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:6).

Because of Jesus, Christians can know God through His attributes, and God’s holiness is the crown of His attributes. In this article, we’re going to unpack five attributes of God’s holiness.

1. God’s Holiness is Providential

First, God is holy in His omniscience, or providential knowledge.

Because God is light, nothing is hidden from Him (1 John 1:5). The Lord rules on high as the perfect judge, and no one can measure the depths of His understanding. All things, past, present, and future are fully known by our God.

Human understanding is limited and like walking in a poorly lit parking lot at night. But God rules over all things and sees all things in perfect light. God’s omniscience is like the light of a sports stadium which illuminates everything as if it were day.

All of creation is full of the glory of God, because of His omniscience; thus, “no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13).

Our holy God sees all, knows all, and orchestrates all things in complete and perfect clarity.

2. God’s Holiness is Present

Second, God is holy in His overwhelming presence.

When Solomon built and dedicated the temple, he desired that it would be a place of God’s dwelling just as the Tabernacle had been for Israel in the wilderness. Solomon fully recognized that unlike idols, the God of Israel cannot be contained.

He prayed, “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built?” (1 Kings 8:27).

God’s immensity stretches beyond human ability to measure. God is present here at the Unlocking the Bible offices in Illinois as well as in Bangladesh. More than that, He is at the center of the universe, and His presence extends beyond the limits of the cosmos. His holy presence is weighty and potent.

3. God’s Holiness is Powerful

Thirdly, the holiness of God also applies to His power. He is powerful beyond comparison!

God is the Creator and Sustainer of everyone and everything, He is omnipotent (all powerful) (Colossians 1:16), and His power extends over all things, both visible and invisible. Galaxies, stars, and planets did not come into being by accident. Conception of human life is nothing less than a miracle. All of creation sings of the mighty power of God!

Presidents, prime ministers, queens, and supreme leaders all may claim some form of authority, but none of these can stand next to the true sovereign, the King of kings and Lord over all lords. No matter the uncertainty of our times, the Lord remains exalted upon His throne.

4. God’s Holiness is Infinite

Fourth, the holiness of God is infinite.

More than being immortal, God’s eternal nature also means that He does not change. God’s holiness sets Him apart from all else. Because He exists in perfect purity and is eternally consistent with Himself.

People grow, mature, and age, but God remains the same. He is morally pure, without the slightest hint of evil, and the Lord is faithful and true (Revelation 19:11). He will not commit evil for He cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13). For this reason, God’s wisdom, justice, and beauty are perfect.

Out of this fact comes a final point:

5. God’s Holiness is Incomparable

When my wife and I were first thinking about marriage, we went ring shopping. We found an amazing jeweler. He was great because he didn’t just try to just sell us a shiny rock and metal band. Instead, he took the time to show us what makes a great diamond. I learned a lot, and then gave him a lot of my money.

Gemologists measure the quality of diamonds by cut, color, clarity and carat weight. And, they grade gems by their various degrees of imperfections, with the perfect stone representing flawlessness.

Any honest jeweler will admit that there are no truly ‘flawless’ diamonds out there. However, Christians can say of our Holy God, that He is “Flawless! Flawless! Flawless!”

Everything about His incomprehensible nature and character is supreme. And because of God’s infinite nature and character, He is worthy of eternal praise!

The Promise

God’s holiness is His crown, and it makes God himself, the treasure of all treasures. Angels in heaven sing praise to God for all that He is and all He has done, and God desires men and women to join with the heavenly choir.

An excellent way to do this is by reading the Psalms, for they invite us to “worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth” (Psalm 96:9).

Whenever people in the Bible saw the LORD in His awesome holiness, they trembled with fear (Isaiah 6:5; Revelation 1:17). Those moments made people realize how absolutely unholy they truly were because of sin. However, Christians have confidence to approach God’s holy throne through faith in Christ.

When the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, people saw the glory of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus reveals the holy God to sinners. When you open the Bible, you can behold the holy God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6).

Best of all, when you put faith in Jesus Christ, the God crowned in awesome holiness, promises to crown you with His steadfast love and mercy (Psalm 103:4). Thus we can say:

“Bless the LORD oh my soul…worship His holy name.” (Psalm 103:1)

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2019/12/5-attributes-gods-holiness/

The Admirable Patience of God

Paul Tautges

Since my conversion to Christ in 1984, I have enjoyed and benefited from reading books about the attributes of God. I’ve also been drawn to the writings of the Puritans. So, a couple months ago, I purchased a little book by George Swinnock.

In a short chapter entitled Patience, Swinnock begins,

God is incomparable in His patience. Patience is that attribute of God whereby He bears with sinners, deferring their punishment or awaiting their conversion. He is “slow to anger” (Ps. 103:8). He is long-suffering (2 Peter 3:9). He endures vessels of wrath with “much long-suffering” (Rom. 9:22). He waits, “that he may be gracious unto you” (Isa. 30:18).

Swinnock then gives three reasons God’s patience is even more admirable. First, God hates sin. Second, God sees sinners. Third, sinners provoke God’s patience. He then concludes,

If God were as impatient as we are, there would be no hope for us. But God is so incomparable in His patience that He is called ‘the God of patience’ (Rom. 15:5). He has all manner of patience in Him.

If you enjoy studying the attributes of God, consider adding Swinnock’s little volume to your devotional reading list.

Posted at: http://counselingoneanother.com/2019/10/29/the-admirable-patience-of-god/

Read the Bible with Your Heart

Jon Bloom

We cannot truly read the Bible without patient and rigorous engagement of our minds. That’s probably obvious to us. But we will not have read it well, not as God intended us to read it, without eager, even relentless, engagement of our hearts. It requires more faith, effort, prayer, humility, vulnerability, and often time to read God’s word with our hearts, but that’s because the heart is precisely where God wants his word to land.

What does it mean to read the Bible with your heart? Before I explain, I’ll point to an example, because a good example is often a great explainer. And the example comes from the Bible itself.

With My Whole Heart

Psalm 119 is a (long) song of wholehearted love and desire for God. And if you read it with an engaged mind, you’ll hear the psalmist sing of how and why he received God’s word with a relentlessly, even desperately, engaged heart. It’s worth reading the whole psalm, but here are a few tastes:

• “Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart” (Psalm 119:2).

• “With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!” (Psalm 119:10).

• “Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart” (Psalm 119:34).

• “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

• “Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors” (Psalm 119:24).

• “I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes” (Psalm 119:47–48).

When we read Psalm 119, two truths are unmistakable: the word of God is for the heart of man, and the way to the heart is through the mind.

Treasure to Be Loved

In Luke 10:27, Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, where Moses says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Any time, however, the Gospels record Jesus quoting this text (see also Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30), Jesus adds the word mind, which Moses didn’t include. Perhaps this is because the Hebrew hearers of Moses’s day understood implicitly that affections included reason, while the Greco-influenced mixed crowds of Jesus’s day needed the clarification.

“We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God.”TweetShare on Facebook

Whatever Jesus’s reason for adding “mind,” it is clear that both reason and affections are crucial to loving God. But there is a hierarchy. God wants our hearts, because, as Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved — the supreme treasure to be supremely treasured.

God’s way to our affections (heart) is through our understanding (mind). So, when we read the Bible, we read it with our hearts engaged, because God’s word is primarily for our hearts.

Read to See Glory

As Christians, we rightly stress the importance of reading the Bible. In stressing this importance, however, we can easily fall into a subtle, deceptive misunderstanding of why it’s important. The subtle misunderstanding goes something like this: if we read the Bible regularly, God will be pleased with us, and therefore we can expect his blessing. As if the act of reading, rather than the purpose of reading, warrants God’s favor.

What’s deceptive about this is that it bears such a close resemblance to the truth. Regular, disciplined reading of the Bible is a means of great blessing from God. But not because performing the act of reading merits his favor. If we read the Bible this way, it’s not much different than the Muslim who practices the disciplines of the Five Pillars to merit Allah’s favor. This is apparently how many leaders in Jesus’s day approached the Scriptures. Listen to Jesus’s rebukes:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27–28).

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39–40)

“God is not merely an idea to be pondered, but a person to be loved.”TweetShare on Facebook

God is not interested in our Bible reading as some kind of ritual to perform as proof of our piety. He wants us to read the Bible so that we will see him! God wants us to see his glory, again and again.

The Bible is where the most important glories of the triune God shine brightest and clearest — especially the glory of Jesus Christ (John 1:14), who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and through whom comes “grace and truth” (John 1:17).

This makes the Bible itself shine with a peculiar glory, worth mining deeply because of the priceless wealth it contains. As John Piper says,

In all the details and particulars of what we find in the Bible — Old Testament and New — the aim of reading is always to see the worth and beauty of God. Notice that I say “in all the details and particulars.” There is no other way to see the glory. God’s greatness does not float over the Bible like a gas. It does not lurk in hidden places separate from the meaning of words and sentences. It is seen in and through the meaning of texts. (Reading the Bible Supernaturally, 96)

God’s glory is seen in and through the meaning of texts. That’s why we pray, “Make me understand the way of your precepts” (Psalm 119:27). Because understanding God’s word is the means of God’s word getting stored up in our hearts (Psalm 119:11).

Don’t Read Just to See

God wants our hearts in Bible reading, not just the attention of our minds. As important as seeing God’s glory is, it’s not enough. God wants us to see his glory so that we will savor his glory. And “if there is no true seeing of the glory of God, there can be no true savoring of the glory of God” (96). Charles Spurgeon said it this way:

Certainly, the benefit of reading must come to the soul by the way of the understanding. . . . The mind must have illumination before the affections can properly rise towards their divine object. . . . There must be knowledge of God before there can be love to God: there must be a knowledge of divine things, as they are revealed, before there can be an enjoyment of them. (100)

The “love to God” and “an enjoyment of divine things” are what God most wants us to experience as a result of reading our Bibles, and neither happens without knowledge. Knowledge is for the sake of love and joy.

“The word of God is for the heart of man. And the way to the heart of man is through the mind of man.”TweetShare on Facebook

When I said the word of God is for the heart of man, I meant it is for, to borrow from the hymn, the “joy of every longing heart.” Bible reading “in all the details and particulars” is frequently rigorous work. It can be quite difficult. At times it can even be disturbing. When we deal with the Bible, we’re dealing with the infinite and mysterious mind of God. His thoughts are not our thoughts; his ways not our ways (Isaiah 55:8–9). But ultimately, if we really understand why God has given us a Book, reading his word becomes a hedonistic pursuit. What we’re after is the pleasure our souls are designed to enjoy most: the savoring of God’s glory.

Read Until You See and Savor

Those who have known God best, and loved him most, have understood the crucial importance of savoring God deeply through seeing God clearly in his word.

George Müller, when reflecting on his remarkable, demanding life of prayerful dependence on God for the sake of the Bristol orphans, recalled an important moment early in his ministry: “I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord” (100). He was speaking about his daily, disciplined Bible reading and prayer each morning. This was his oasis of refreshment. Time in the word functioned like a ballast keeping his ship upright in a life of significant stress and at times turbulent storms. “Unless some unusual obstacle hindered him, he would not rise from his knees until sight had become savoring” (100).

George Müller read the Bible like the psalmist who wrote Psalm 119: with a rigorously engaged mind and a relentlessly engaged heart. And so must we. We read the Bible with our minds to see the glory of God, and with our hearts to savor the glory of God. We pass the Bible through our minds to store it in our hearts, because our hearts are with our treasure. And if possible, we don’t stop looking until our hearts are “happy in the Lord” — until we feel fresh joy in some aspect of who God is and what he has done for us in Christ.

Jon Bloom (@Bloom_Jon) serves as author, board chair, and co-founder of Desiring God. He is author of three books, Not by Sight, Things Not Seen, and Don’t Follow Your Heart. He and his wife have five children and make their home in the Twin Cities.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/read-the-bible-with-your-heart

Is the God of the Bible a Genocidal Maniac?

Michael Kruger

Armenia. Cambodia. Rawanda. Bosnia. Darfur. All well-known modern examples of genocide where entire people groups were wiped out (or almost wiped out).  These are awful tragedies, worthy of our sorrow and grief.

And yet, ask the critics, is the God of the Bible really any different? When the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, was it not God that commanded them to wipe out all the indigenous people (Deut 20:17)? Is God not guilty of genocide? It makes me think of the famous bumper-sticker quote, “The only difference between God and Adolf Hitler is that God is more proficient at genocide.”

Admittedly, this is a difficult, complex issue. We feel obligated, understandably, to find a way to get God “off the hook” for the deaths of so many people. Many possibilities come to mind for how that might be done. Maybe we’ve misread the passage. Maybe it’s just symbolic. Maybe the Israelites misunderstood God’s command. And so on.

But, in the end, I don’t think we need to get God off the hook. I don’t think he wants off the hook.  As painful as this issue is, it highlights what we, and our culture, need to hear more than ever: God is holy, people are sinful, the world is broken, and his judgment is just.

If we are going to rightly understand the destruction of the Canaanites, several principles must be remembered:

First, every human being on the planet deserves God’s judgment not just the Canaanites. Right now, all humans everywhere—from the kind old lady that lives next door to the hardened criminal on death row—are all deeply sinful. And they were born this way. Since birth, all human beings stand guilty, not only for their own sins but for the sin of Adam which has been passed down to them (Rom 5:12). And the penalty for our sin is clear, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).

So, what does this mean?  This means that, at any moment, God could take the life of any human as judgment for their sins. And he would be totally justified in doing so. God owes salvation to no one. And this quickly changes our perspective on the Canaanite conquest. Rather than being surprised that God would finally judge people for their sins (even in great numbers), perhaps we should be shocked that he waits so long to do it. Every one of us is alive and breathing solely by God’s incredible patience and grace.

Second, the timing of God’s judgment doesn’t always match human expectations. Sometimes we think God should judge the most sinful people first and work down the list. But, of course, God doesn’t always work the way we expect. In fact, Jesus made this exact point when he was asked why the tower of Siloam fell and killed a bunch of people. Jesus replied, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).

Ouch. In other words, people don’t have to be the worst of sinners to receive God’s judgment. God is not obligated to judge all people simultaneously.

While the Canaanites were not the only sinful people in the world, and not necessarily even the worst, their sins were quite egregious. God drove them out of the land primarily because their practices were “detestable” in his sight—gross idolatry, use of sorcerers and mediums, sexual perversions, and even sacrificing their own children to the gods (Deut 18:9-14). Despite these practices, God had been incredibly patient with the inhabitants of Canaan for generation after generation, dating back even to the time of Abraham (Gen 15:13-16). But, God’s patience had run out.

Third, God uses a variety of instruments to accomplish his judgment. Sure, God could just miraculously take all the lives of the Canaanites in a single instance. But, he has a history of using various means to bring judgment. Throughout Scripture, such means have included natural disasters, disease and pestilence, drought, economic collapse, and yes, even human armies. At numerous points throughout biblical history God “raises up” a human army to accomplish his purposes. And in the Canaanite conquest, God used the nation of Israel as his instrument of judgment.

It is here that we come to a key difference between the Canaanite conquest and modern day genocide. Yes, both involve great loss of life. And both involve human armies. But the former is done as an instrument of God’s righteous judgment whereas the latter is humans murdering others for their own purposes. On the surface, there may be similarities. But, they are decidedly not the same act.

An example might help. Imagine a scenario where one human injects another human with a deadly toxin which causes that person to die. Is that murder? Well, it depends. If this was done by a gang member who wanted to knock off a rival gang member, then the answer would be yes. But, if this was done by an official at a federal prison who was authorized by the state to administer lethal injection, then the answer would be no.

On the surface, the two acts might look the same. But, everything comes down to whether the taking of life is properly authorized. The issue is not whether a life is taken, but how and why it is taken.

Let me try to draw all of this together. If every human deserves judgment (and we do), and if God is justified in taking a life whenever he decides to execute that judgment (and he is), and if God uses various instruments for that judgment (including human armies), then there is nothing immoral about the Canaanite conquest. Indeed, to object to the conquest would require us to object to all of God’s acts of judgment. Do we also object to Noah’s flood, or to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or to the plagues on Egypt?

In the end, the conquest of Canaan remains a difficult and complex issue. And yet, if the conquest is viewed within the context of the Christian worldview, rather than from outside of it, then the objections quickly fade away. God’s judgment is just, even if we don’t fully understand it.  And if we take that away, then we are left with something other than the God of Christianity.

Posted at: https://www.michaeljkruger.com/is-the-god-of-the-bible-a-genocidal-maniac/